Gone and Forgotten
by Alliebeth
Summary: Perhaps familiar was an understatement. Since running off together, Oliver and Felicity had fallen into place together perfectly, like 2 puzzle pieces that had been missing but now were found. At first, they had both been wary of how things would be different between them with the Arrow gone and no enemies knocking down their door. Olicity.
1. 1 Broken Bliss

**Gone and Forgotten**

 **Please read and review/fav/critique. I am doing this based off an idea I had, so it could be long and fleshed out or end after a handful of chapters. It really depends on my time and the reception to the first few chapters. Thanks! - A**

 **Chapter 1: Broken Bliss**

 _Post-season 3 finale. Oliver and Felicity have been crawling up and down the east coast for nearly 3 weeks, thinking only about the here and now and leaving Starling City's safety to the rest of the crew. They've rented a house on the beach and are enjoying the last of the summer weather._

"Ow, ow! I'll take some of that."

"They sure don't make them like that anymore, do they?"

Felicity Smoak glanced up from her tablet to see a gaggle of bikini-clad coeds standing with their backs to her. She laid the small machine on her lap and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, would you all mind moving over just a little? You're blocking my view."

One of the girls, brown hair stringy with drying saltwater, looked back over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. Smirking, she took in the thick-rimmed, squared off glasses, one-piece swimsuit, and spots of unblended SPF 45, despite the fact that this woman was sitting under the largest beach umbrella she'd ever seen.

Stringy-hair said something to the others and they all looked back at Felicity, giggling and whispering to each other.

 _Making fun of the 'nerd', really? Some things don't ever change._ Felicity rolled her eyes, pushing herself up out of the beach recliner, and started past the girls towards the shoreline – and towards the muscular man doing one handed pushups in the sand.

"Listen, I knew from the get-go that you're a bit of a showoff, but is the grunting really necessary? You have an audience." She pulled her oversized hat down further, shielding her fair skin from the noon sun.

"28...29...30..." Oliver pulled himself up to a kneeling position in the sand with another grunt, grinning up at her. "Definitely necessary." His solid frame and rippling muscles were enough to make any girl swoon, but that man's smile is what always got her.

Felicity took a step closer to him, flashing a small smile. It felt good to smile. She hadn't been able to call up very many genuine ones since receiving word that Ray Palmer, her former boyfriend and boss, had been pronounced dead in a freak accident at Palmer Technologies just days after they left the city. She had been furious when the lawyers had called, telling her that she was the new owner of the company, something Ray had done sneakily before his death. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful or didn't think she could handle the responsibility; Felicity just didn't know if she could handle the crushing reality of it all. If she was running the company, Ray really was gone. Another friend lost.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Felicity rested her hands on her hips, right below the cutouts of her bathing suit, and sighed. "They're staring. And saying...gross things. I think one of them wants to lick you. I don't even think about stuff like that." _Much._

Oliver laughed and hopped to his feet, letting one arm encircle her waist, his hand laying on top of hers. "So let them stare at this."

He leaned in for a kiss and Felicity obliged, her lips parting slightly, almost automatically. Oliver's tongue swept across them gently before daring to enter her mouth. She allowed her hands to slide up and down his chest and back, pausing to trace the scars that had become all too familiar landmarks on his body.

Perhaps familiar was an understatement. Since running off together, Oliver and Felicity had fallen into place together perfectly, like 2 puzzle pieces that had been missing but now were found. At first, they had both been wary of how things would be different between them with the Arrow gone and no enemies knocking down their door. Oliver, too, had become different. He was stronger, Felicity could see that much, but it wasn't just physically. This most recent trial with the League of Assassins had forced him to realize that fighting for a chance at tomorrow with the ones you love was a powerful advantage, rather than a weakness. There was nothing more standing in their way of being together, and they had used the last few weeks to really get to know one another, in the Biblical sense.

Their tongues danced playfully for a while longer before Felicity acknowledged that the warmth she felt rising in her cheeks, dancing on her skin, was due to more than just the sun's rays. Despite the fact that they spent more time touching one another than not since leaving Starling City, Felicity's body still betrayed her when it came to their more public displays of affection. Just the thought of what usually followed these impromptu make-out sessions sent a tingle down her spine that threatened to settle between her thighs.

Another few blissful seconds elapsed before she decided it was time to come up for air. The group of girls was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh, looks like they didn't enjoy the show very much." Oliver mused as he took Felicity's hand and they started back towards the shade of the umbrella to pack up.

"Everything OK?" He asked, watching as she slid her tablet back into its sleeve.

"Yeah, great," she replied avoiding his gaze.

"It's just...well, you had that look."

"What look? I don't have a look."

"That look you get when you're thinking about something that makes you sad," He lowered his gaze. "Or someone."

"Can't hide anything from you." Felicity continued to jam things into her beach bag, but tears were forming at the corners of her eyes. Oliver caught a glimpse and gently took her hand. She paused before letting out a small sob.

"I just...can't believe he's really gone. That he blew himself up. The scientist blows himself up in his lab. What kind of sick irony is that?" The tears were flowing freely now and Oliver pulled her into a protective embrace. A few more sobs shook her before her breathing began to steady itself.

"I'm sorry. He was a good guy."

"Yeah." She sniffled and dried her eyes with the edge of the towel she was folding up. "I'm sorry. I'll be fine. I don't know why it just hit me all of a sudden like that."

"Grief has a funny way of catching us off guard. You don't have anything to be sorry for." He kissed her forehead and dropped his arms. She nodded.

"Hey, how about I finish up here. You go back to the house and get cleaned up, then we'll head to that barbeque place off of Route 8 for lunch." Oliver gestured in the direction of the beach house they had been renting for the past few days.

"Sounds good." Felicity gave him a quick peck on the cheek before pulling on her maxi dress. "See you in a few, lover," she waved.


	2. 2 Gone Dark

**Gone and Forgotten**

 **Chapter 2: Gone Dark**

"Felicity, are you ready to go?" Oliver called, letting the back door of the beach house swing closed behind him. He listened for a minute. Nothing except the sound of running water coming from upstairs.

 _She's probably still in the shower._ He set down their bags in the kitchen and took a single step into the living room before freezing. The front door hung open, broken off its hinges. Instinct kicked in as Oliver crouched low, retrieving the combat knife from the waistband of his shorts. He surveyed his surroundings and moved towards the stairs. Running water still echoed from the upstairs bathroom, and Oliver could feel the heaviness of steam permeating the upstairs hallway.

Slowly, he made his way up the stairs and around the corner to the master bedroom. Clear.

Felicity's swimsuit and maxi dress from the beach were in the hamper, still damp. Oliver inched towards the bathroom door, but it was wide open and easy to see Felicity was not there either. He turned off the rushing water and searched the other two upstairs rooms. Making his way back downstairs, an awful knot began to form in Oliver's stomach. She was gone.

His heart stopped when his foot landed in a small puddle of something warm and wet near the front door. Warm, wet, and sticky. Blood.

 _There isn't enough here to be from a fatal wound,_ he rationalized. Although thinking about any harm coming to Felicity had him simultaneously panicked and murderous. _It might not even be hers..._ He was grasping now, head spinning. That last thought snapped him back to reality and he turned to inspect the room once more when he heard a familiar, muffled tune.

Frantically, Oliver rummaged through Felicity's beach bag, afraid the ringtone would stop before he found the source. After what felt like forever, he found the phone. He took a steadying breath and answered it, struggling to keep emotion from leaching into his voice.

"Hello? This is Oliver Queen." Something about the way this was all happening made him sure this call was not for Felicity. His identity as the Arrow was not the best kept secret these days.

"Ah, Mr. Queen. Just who I was hoping to speak with." The voice on the other end was distorted, grainy. Oliver recognized the trick right away – his days as the Arrow had given him plenty of experience with voice concealment tech.

"What is this about?" He asked, surprisingly smoothly, despite his pounding heart. Whoever this was already had the upper hand; he would not give them the satisfaction of knowing how distraught he was, too.

Seconds ticked by. Oliver could feel his pulse in his hands, his neck, his head. His grip on the phone tightened, but he waited. Footsteps echoed in the distance, and he heard a chair scrape against...concrete? No, wood. Definitely wood. He memorized each little detail he heard.

"What are you doing, you sick psychopath!?" Felicity's voice was rough with tears, but there was still a bite in her tone that Oliver had come to know very well. She was strong.

"Felicity?" Oliver all but shouted into the speaker, the worry in his voice betraying him.

"Your companion is very feisty, Mr. Queen. We shall have to do something about that." The voice chuckled and a sickening crunch, followed by a scream had Oliver shaking with anger.

"What do you want?" Oliver demanded, clenching his jaw.

"Return to Starling and we shall see. Good day to you, Mr. Queen."

Click. The line went dead.

Everything burned. Her eyes, her throat, her foot, the places on her wrists where she was zip-tied to the chair, her scalp where her hair had been pulled and torn out, her knees and elbows where she'd been thrown to the ground.

Felicity could barely keep the contents of her stomach down. Blood trickled down her nose and into her mouth, making breathing difficult. She looked down at her foot, swallowing hard as she remembered the sensation of the sledgehammer coming down on it minutes before. The pain itself was not that bad, but the sound...the sound kept reverberating in her brain. Oliver had heard it, too, which made her even more sick to her stomach. Eventually she lost that battle, and heaved all over her broken foot.

"You're a nasty little creature, ain'tcha?" A man's voice broke through the fog surrounding Felicity's brain. She could not quite place his accent. A gloved hand reached out and grabbed her chin despite her attempts to pull away. "Oooh, whatcha gonna do? Bite me with that pretty little mouth o' yours?"

"From what I hear, that mouth earns its keep. Just ask Oliver Queen!" Another voice joined in, followed by laughter.

 _There must be at least 4 or 5 of them from the sound of it. Focus on your surroundings, like Oliver taught you. What do you see?_ Her mind tried to push away the slimy feeling of the men around her and what they must be thinking.

The laughter continued, followed by some more banter that Felicity thankfully was able to tune out. There was only the dim light of a single overhead bulb, with the men standing just outside its radius.

 _Yes, definitely 5. This room can't be that big, the echo would give that away._

 _What else, what else?!_ She wracked her foggy brain to grab onto anything else she could use to her advantage.

 _No windows. So we must be underground? Or at least in an interior room._

She listened as footsteps receded into the growing darkness. A key scraped in a lock. A door opened. Heavy, metal. Then steps on metal stairs going...up?

 _Only one exit. Shit._ Felicity swore to herself and tried to sum up her findings. She was tied to a chair and vastly outnumbered. There was also the fact that whoever had taken her had grabbed her right out of the shower, so she wore only a hastily wrapped bath robe with nothing underneath. She shivered at her vulnerability.

For a moment, she let herself believe that Oliver was coming for her right now, that he had pinged her phone and was on his way, would rush in and save her. Except he wouldn't, because it was Felicity who always located the hostages, or the bombs, or the bad guys. _She_ navigated the Arrow – no, Oliver – to where he needed to be. In her current state, she was completely helpless. Her head began to throb in time to her foot. Felicity had let herself close her eyes for a minute, and when she opened them, she could not hide her fear.

One of the men had stepped forward and was starting to circle her chair, staring at her like a trophy. Or a piece of meat. Her breathing quickened and a sense of dread filled her whole body as he stepped behind her, resting his hand on her shoulder. She tried to shrug it away, but he held on tighter.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" The voice crooned. Both hands were on her shoulders now and Felicity went stiff.

 _No. No, no no. Please, no._ She shut her eyes tight and tried to speak, but what came out was barely a whisper.

"He'll kill you if you..." She couldn't even finish the sentence. Tears had welled in her eyes. _Dammit, when did I become so weak? This is not me. This is not Felicity Smoak._ The inner pep talk was failing miserably as the man slid his hands down her collar bones towards the neck of her robe.

"Now, now, deary. Play nice and I won't be too rough." The man's voice had something sinister in it, something deranged that Felicity couldn't quite put her finger on in her current state. He bent down and rubbed his cheek against her hair. She noticed that the other men were strangely silent; she had expected them to jeer and egg the pervert on. Instead, it was as if they disappeared.

The man parted the neck of her robe and slid his hand down, roughly grabbing her left breast. Felicity bit her lip. _I will not give you the satisfaction of seeing me break,_ she thought to herself. When she did not react, he took her nipple between his fingers and squeezed mercilessly, causing her to cry out in pain. He just laughed and dug in his fingernails.

"Keller, man...we're not supposed to do anything to her without the OK. That's the orders." A voice spoke out of the darkness, uneasy.

"Shut your mouth, little prick." The man released Felicity and straightened. She winced as he let go, knowing that he had definitely drawn blood.

Keller opened his mouth to say something more, but instead of words, dark red blood sputtered up and gushed out. He fell face first onto the floor, lifeless. The other men came into view, eyes wide. Felicity craned her head as much as she dared and saw that there was a single arrow sticking out of Keller's back. It must have pierced his heart. She knew very few people with enough skill with a bow to pull that off.

Felicity's heart leapt as she swiveled her head all around, searching for her Arrow. But instead, a cloaked voice spoke from the shadows, only the outline of a man visible in the low light.

"You are precisely correct, Felton. I did order nothing to be done to Ms. Smoak without my explicit order." The man stated coolly. There was no hint of intonation at all.

"Y-yes, sir." The voice belonging to Felton replied shakily.

"Unfortunately, and it does pain me to do this, but the inability of you and your...comrades...to prevent Mr. Keller from _violating_ my orders equates to carrying out the act yourselves." Felicity thought she picked up on a hint of venom in the word "violating", almost like the shadow man cared.

"No, please, sir..." Several voices pleaded in unison. One set of footsteps running for the only exit. The swift and lethal _whoosh_ of a single arrow to the back. Or perhaps the head – it was very dark. And silence.

Felicity closed her eyes just in time to hear 3 more _whooshes_ , followed by as many _thunks_ against the floor.

 _I was right, there were 5._

 ** _Thank you or reading, and please remember to favorite, review, etc. Especially if you would like to see more chapters. - A_**


	3. 3 Stronger

**Gone and Forgotten**

 **Chapter 3: Stronger**

Thea met Oliver at the entrance to Verdant and pulled him into a tight, knowing hug. After all the damage done recently by police raids and the League, he was happy to see the place still standing, let alone doing as well as his sister had told him. Thea had become so strong over the past year, he could hardly believe she was the same young woman. Although it scared him a little at first, Oliver was now very glad to have his sister's strength at his side.

"Ollie, tell us everything you know. Everything." Thea led him to the main bar area, where Laurel, and somewhat surprisingly, John Diggle sat waiting.

After Oliver recounted everything that had happened up to that point, Diggle interjected.

"I'll have Lylah check a few leads over at ARGUS and catch up with you guys if anything comes up."

There was a palpable divide between the two men ever since Oliver had Digg's family threatened and his wife kidnapped. Even if it was all a charade to fool Ra's al Ghoul, it was clear that Digg had not gotten past it, and perhaps never truly would.

"It means a lot that you're here, John," Oliver replied quietly.

"Don't think this means we're okay, Oliver. I am here for Felicity," Digg replied as he turned to leave the club. "You remember that," he added, solemnly before walking straight out the large, glazed green glass doors.

Digg's exit hung in the air. No, they were definitely _not_ okay. Oliver had hoped to return to Starling City and try to mend things with him, but right now he already had too much on his plate with Felicity's kidnapping. He was barely holding it all in. Trying to maintain a calm surface when the undercurrent threatened to carry him away was proving to be more difficult than he remembered. Working through things with Digg would have to wait until he got Felicity back.

He would get her back.

"I don't think I can be of much help until we run down a solid lead," Laurel said apologetically. "Let me know if there's anything the DAs office can do to help. Or the Canary." She shot Oliver a warning glance in case he planned on protesting her vigilante moonlighting, but that issue was long since put to rest. She, too, took off.

"I couldn't track down Roy." Thea seemed to sense the question before Oliver even asked it.

He nodded. "That might be for the best. I have a feeling this isn't some small time street criminal that took Felicity. No, there is something...not right...about this. It could get very ugly very quickly, and I don't want him to risk anyone knowing he's alive." Thea nodded silently.

"Any idea where we should start?" You could sense that Thea was worried about Felicity, but she was doing an excellent job of holding her composure. Oliver couldn't help but be impressed. Even though a word had not been invented to express how much he loathed Malcolm Merlyn, he had protected and trained Thea when she needed it most.

"I've told you everything already." Oliver involuntarily raised his voice before settling his face back down in his hands. "I'm sorry. It's just...I don't know who they are, or what they want, and it's driving me crazy. I've been checking this damn phone constantly, hoping they'll call and make demands. But there's been nothing since they took her. I don't even know if she's..." He trailed off. If Oliver had any tears left at this point, he would have let a few escape. He had long since spent those precious few drops on the drive to Starling.

"I'll see if Malcolm knows anything," Thea restarted the conversation after a long pause.

"If he or the league are behind any of this...," Oliver threatened through gritted teeth.

* * *

 _I will slaughter them all._ He instantly felt ashamed. Felicity had brought out so much good in him. Apparently, her absence could bring back the bad parts, as well. He hoped that he wouldn't need to become that person again, that killer, but knew that he would do whatever it took to get her back. Even if that meant dropping bodies.

Even Felicity was surprised at how even her breathing had become, despite sharing a room with five recently dead bodies and one very mysterious, very skilled archer. She was almost calm and it dawned on her slowly that she should not be, in any way, shape or form, calm right now.

 _I'm in shock. Yes, shock. That's got to be it. My body is trying to protect me by making me believe everything is just fine and dandy when really I'm probably about to die, or be raped or maimed or some other horrible verb._ An almost inaudible whimper escaped her lips.

Suddenly, and with only a small feeling of relief, it occurred to her that whoever this mysterious, dark figure was, he did not seem to want her raped or fondled. That was the whole reason five dead men surrounded her now. Why, she had no clue. It seemed like looking a gift horse in the mouth to ask why, so she bit her tongue and thanked the universe for that one small blessing. She would hold on to that.

She might be murdered, but not raped _and_ murdered. _Wow, that is dark even for you, Smoak. I blame the current circumstances on that twisted thought._

The shock seemed to also be keeping most of the pain from her damaged breast and crushed foot at bay, although with each throb of her pulse, he toes began to feel like overly stuffed sausages trying to escape from their casings. The vomit from earlier had mostly dried and Felicity wondered if it would contribute to getting an infection. If she lived long enough to get an infection.

 _Ugh. Why do I think these things at the worst moments? This should not be my inner monologue right now, seriously. What is WRONG with me?_ She shook her head to clear it, freezing suddenly when she realized that the dark figure was definitely watching her.

"Felicity. I am sorry to say neither of us are going to have much fun tonight." The figure was circling her slowly, careful to stay cloaked in the shadow. He sounded truly apologetic.

"Really? And here I was waiting for the party hats." _Again, not appropriate, Felicity. Get a grip here._

A light chuckle, oddly distorted by the voice tech, emanated from the black space to her left. She whipped her head around to face it.

"You really are different. I see that there's something special about you, Felicity. I always have."

She gulped as the direction of the voice moved to her right side. The realization that this man had been stalking her for some undetermined amount of time without her knowing ( _without Oliver knowing)_ made bile rise in her throat. For once she was glad she had already cleared out her stomach.

"Yes, you are special, Felicity," He mused. His tone became harsher, colder then, "but you are also weak. I know it's not entirely your fault. You can be strong, you just need someone to show you how."

 _So, this guy is clearly a psychopath, and I really don't like where this is going. S_ he felt the shock start to wear off and a small surge of adrenaline take its place, but it just wasn't enough. Racing hear, Sweaty palms, dry mouth – Felicity's entire body was telling her to run and it was nothing short of agony that she couldn't. She was cursing herself for not taking Digg's self defense training more seriously.

As the man stepped from the shadows and into the light, Felicity only caught a glimpse of his face before a searing pain ripped through her right shoulder. She cried out in pain, but before she could glance up, another arrow speared her left shoulder. Try as she might to fight it, the edges of her vision grew blurry. The last words she heard before the darkness pulled her under made silently wish she would not wake up.

"That is what we will do now. We will make you strong."

 **So how about that, huh? I think these first 3 chapters laid a good groundwork for where I'm going with this. Tell me what you think! Expect at least 1 more chapter by the end of the week.**

 **-A**


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